Luck, Talent, and Skill

The band were competing again on Sunday. We came second. However, as there was a shortage of bands for the competitions at the next grades up, we (along with most of the garde 4 bands) also stepped up to compete in the Grade 3 competition, where we competed against at least three 'true' Grade 3 bands.

We came second. This constitutes a good result.

However, just before we went on for our Grade 3 performance, I had a brief conversation with two of our pipers about luck, talent and skill.

One of our players, A, noted that it should go well, "if we're lucky."

To this, of course, I was forced to reiterate my belief that there's no such thing as luck. (This is actually an exaggeration, of course, since there is clearly randomness and Uncertainty in the universe, and the net effect of such things can certainly be labelled 'luck'. However, in general, I find that the influence of luck is far less than it's given credit.)

Anyway, at this point, another piper, S, stated that it was all "raw, natural talent."

Oh, boy...

Here's the thing: talent has almost nothing to do with how well a band does at a competition. Success is basically down to a couple of factors: how much acquired skill the weakest members of the band have, and how the players respond under pressure. The first is largely down to practice, both individually and as a band, while the latter is a matter of psychology: under pressure, some people focus and others fold. The latter will never perform well at competition, no matter how much talent they have, or even how skillful they might be.

Of course, handling pressure is largely down to confidence, so there are ways to fake it... The key there is to know the tunes, yes, but to know them well enough that you know that you know them. Once you've got that, playing under pressure is easier, because you don't feel the pressure so much. (The other key is to get a good start, which is always tricky in piping. However, it's good advice generally. Next time you have to give a presentation to strangers, try this: insert a title slide with just the title of your presentation and your name on it. This is information that you're not going to mess up, and by taking the time to tell the audience these things, you achieve that good start that makes everything else easier.)